Landfall: The Ship Series // Book One

by Jerry Aubin

  Mikedo paused for a moment and looked back and forth at the two of them. “What exactly happened? How did your weapon shoot Kalare, Zax, and then shoot you in the face immediately afterwards?”

  Zax had pondered this inevitable question all morning and didn’t skip a beat before he answered.

  “Weapon malfunction.”

  He desperately wanted to trust Mikedo with the truth but worried about what might happen if it ever got back to the Marines that he ratted out Jacen to an officer. Cyrus already wanted to kill him, and Zax didn’t need a squadron of Marines hunting him down as well.

  Mikedo turned to Kalare for a response and she echoed, “Weapon malfunction.” Zax was grateful she either had reached a similar conclusion or chose to go along with him for different reasons.

  Mikedo shook her head in disappointment. “Weapon malfunction, huh? I had a feeling I might hear something like that from the two of you. I don’t like it, but I’m not surprised. I really wish you would give me the full story and trust me enough to know I wouldn’t do anything to get you in hot water with your peers, but I don’t blame you for not being there yet.” She smiled warmly at both of them. “I promise you’ll get there soon, but I won’t force it on you right now.

  “We need to get to combat training,” Mikedo continued, “but before we go anywhere let me take a min to share something with both of you. I’m impressed with how you’ve handled yourselves these past few days. You jumped into a situation I think would’ve sent most cadets running back to their normal duties. I had serious doubts when the Flight Boss told me what he had in mind for the two of you, but I have to say I feel very differently now that I’ve had a chance to see you in action. We’ve still got a lot of challenges ahead of us, but I’m already certain I’ll always be proud to have worked with the two of you. Really proud.”

  Zax had zero clue how to react to Mikedo’s words. Never in his life had he heard anything as remotely positive and as clearly heartfelt from anyone in the Crew, much less an officer. He wanted to offer thanks but feared he might be overwhelmed with emotion if he tried to speak. Instead, he met Mikedo’s eyes and nodded. Kalare amazingly appeared to be at a loss for words as well since she followed Zax’s lead.

  “I know you’re both hungry, but I have to stick to the rules of the training contest and not allow you in the mess hall.” Mikedo grinned and lifted up the bags she was holding. “The rules didn’t mention anything about me bringing something out of the mess hall for you, though. You’re going to have to eat as we walk because there’s been some unrest in the civilian sector, and the Tubes are being rerouted and are running slower than usual. Enjoy!”

  Zax was delighted to discover his bag contained his favorite breakfast sandwich along with the pastries he loved. Mikedo must have paid attention when she ate with them the other morning. He was curious about what kind of unrest could disrupt the Tube system and posed the question to Mikedo as he unwrapped his sandwich.

  “It’s not anything you need to worry about,” she answered, “just civilians being civilians. If they don’t have something legitimate to get upset about every once in a while, they get bored and just make stuff up instead. You need to focus on eating that delicious sandwich before I change my mind and take it back.”

  He gratefully wolfed everything down as they once again trekked through Marine Country. When they arrived at the dojo, Mikedo halted at the hatch and looked them both up and down. She smiled at Zax as she reached over and brushed off the front of his shirt.

  “What’s with all of these crumbs, Zax. You want to get me in trouble for giving you food? How is it you can be so talented in so many ways, and yet you can’t manage to eat something without wearing half of it?”

  Mikedo beamed and delivered her words with a lighthearted tone that made Zax blush. He managed to mumble a “Sorry” and “Thank you” in reply as she finished.

  Both groups of cadets from their previous sessions were inside the dojo. At one end of the line, Jacen and his fellow Marines started pointing and laughing at Zax and Kalare as they entered. Cyrus stood at the other end among his group of Flight cadets and stared at Zax like a predator contemplating its prey. Sergeant Quentor acknowledged their entrance and addressed Mikedo.

  “Good morning, ma’am. You’re only three secs late today. That’s not bad, but as usual, Flight is almost as good as the Marines without quite getting all the way there.” This triggered a snigger from some of the Marines. The instructor flipped from smiling to rage in a heartbeat and directed his full fury at Jacen, who had been the loudest. “Why are you laughing in my dojo, cadet? Do you think you’re at a comedy show? Am I here to amuse you? Front and center! I need a practice dummy to demonstrate today’s first lesson and you just volunteered!”

  Jacen walked towards the center of the sparring circle with his head held high. Zax guessed the Marines were conditioned to this sort of verbal abuse the same way Flight cadets were conditioned to near constant demerits, but he couldn’t imagine facing the massive instructor’s faux rage up close regardless.

  “Cadet—punch me in the face.”

  Jacen must have known this was a setup for something painful, but he smiled and complied with Quentor’s order. It was a blur as the instructor rotated his hips to avoid the right jab and grabbed Jacen’s arm. The sergeant used their combined momentum to flip Jacen, who then flew three meters across the sparring circle and slammed onto the deck. He remained crumpled on his back.

  The sergeant turned back and addressed all of the cadets. “Now I know that was too fast for all of your tiny brains to understand how I did it, but that’s okay because Cadet Jacen has graciously offered to let me demonstrate as many times as I need to.”

  “Sergeant—if I may be so bold as to interrupt for a quick private word with you.”

  Mikedo approached the instructor. The difference in size between the petite Flight officer and the massive Marine instructor when they were side-by-side made it appear as if they came from entirely different species. After a min of quiet discussion with Mikedo, the instructor faced the class.

  “Well, well, well. You cadets are in for a treat this morning. This Flight officer has shared with me how this particular combat move has always been one of her favorites. She’s so confident in her abilities she has requested an opportunity to demonstrate them for all of you. Furthermore, she wants to make it even more interesting and has ordered me to accept a wager. She’s bet one hundred chits she’ll make Jacen fly even farther across the compartment than I just did.”

  This brought a quick laugh of disbelief from all of the cadets arrayed around the sparring circle—Flight and Marines alike. Even Zax with his firsthand knowledge of her abilities found it preposterous that Mikedo, who was two-thirds the mass of Jacen at most, would be able to throw the cadet farther than the immense instructor did.

  Jacen had recovered while all of this went on and approached Mikedo with a sly grin on his face. He threw a jab at Mikedo similar to the first one he had directed at Quentor, but clearly put more force behind it. Mikedo pivoted and started to flip the Marine cadet in a near perfect duplication of the instructor’s earlier move. Her hands were positioned in slightly different locations on Jacen’s arm, though, and she held on for a split sec longer than the sergeant had. The crack of breaking bone echoed through the dojo and was followed by an agonized scream. Even though Jacen flew an amazing distance, it was not as far as Quentor had thrown him. He remained on the ground and writhed in agony, his arm clearly shattered based on the obscene angle at which his hand pointed.

  Mikedo turned to the instructor and bowed. “You were right, Sergeant. I should have listened when you said there was no way I could throw that cadet farther than a big, strong Marine like yourself. I was trying so hard I messed up my form and it appears I may have hurt him. I will transfer the one hundred chits to your account. Please accept my apologies for interrupting your training and for breaking your Marine.”

  She walked over to Zax and Kalare
and quietly addressed them both. “You two enjoy today’s combat lesson. I have to spend the rest of the day filling out reports about this little mishap. I’m glad you both witnessed how weapon malfunctions and similar training accidents can even happen to officers sometimes.” She winked and then strutted away with a bounce in her step.

  Zax was stunned. Mikedo must have somehow known what transpired with Jacen and yet had allowed him and Kalare to think otherwise. She didn’t force them to give her a full explanation which would have compelled her to handle the issue via official channels and brand Zax and Kalare as snitches. Instead, Mikedo dealt with Jacen directly and extracted commensurate payback for his betrayal with absolute deniability. Zax knew then he would do anything for that woman and follow her anywhere.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  Look who we have here.

  Nine additional days of training passed in a flash, and Zax awoke on the thirteenth day amazed at what he had learned and how his body had changed. His muscles were still sore every day, but they had increased in size and strength. He was particularly excited about how his performance had improved in the simulations with reduced oxygen and increased gravity. The first one left him gasping for mercy, but during the last contest under the same conditions he ran around like he’d been doing it for years.

  Zax got dressed after a quick shower and headed to the mess hall to meet Kalare. They had made a habit of eating breakfast together to rehash whatever took place the day before. Kalare did 98% of the talking, but the new routine was comfortable regardless. He approached their regular table and found Mikedo was there as well.

  “Good morning, Zax. I hope you don’t mind me crashing your breakfast date like this.” Mikedo grinned and continued. “I’ve got interesting news. Charlie Company is the Marine recon unit which scouts out new planets. They head down tomorrow for a final survey of the two alien settlements before the Captain decides how to proceed. The Flight Boss wants the two of you to go with them.”

  Zax and Kalare blurted out multiple questions simultaneously, but Mikedo held up her palm to quiet them. “Before you get too excited, be sure you understand that neither one of you is definitely going. There will be two final evaluations which a Marine sergeant will administer. He’ll be the fourth member of our squad if we end up going down to the planet and has the final say on whether you’ve made enough progress to travel with Charlie Company. What do you think—are you ready to get off the Ship and visit a planet?”

  Zax replied for both of them with absolute conviction. “We are!”

  Mikedo smiled in return and said, “I agree. Let’s get some breakfast. Zax—you should probably make it a big one. Whether you two go down to the surface or not, the Ship is inserting into orbit as part of the mission tomorrow. That means you’ve got an FTL Transit ahead of you and need to worry about keeping your stomach empty.”

  Zax was so thrilled about the idea of visiting a planet that not even the specter of nutripellets could dull his excitement. The only way Flight cadets generally got to step foot on solid ground was to get Culled. Since Zax avoided thinking about that scenario for himself, he had never given any thought to viewing an alien world with his own eyes. He was both exhilarated and terrified by the prospect, but ultimately concluded it must be a great sign of the progress they’d made towards earning the mentorship. If the Boss was going through the effort of sending them down to a planet with recon Marines, it must mean he was confident about choosing one of them.

  A twinge of regret hit Zax when he remembered he could only win if Kalare lost, but he quickly set that aside and heeded Mikedo’s advice. He grabbed extra portions of all his favorites, and Zax devoured the pile of food while Kalare dominated a conversation with Mikedo.

  After eating, they proceeded to the weapons training simulator. It was set up as a jungle environment once again but was being configured by a man with white hair instead of the regular female instructor with her orange high and tight. The man turned to face them and Zax was shocked to identify him as the sergeant they had met their very first day in Marine Country. The sergeant whose coffee Zax had spilled. The sergeant with a smile of recognition which revealed he indeed never forgot a face.

  “Look who we have here. Good morning, ma’am. It’s going to be an absolute pleasure to work with your cadets today.” The sergeant never glanced at Mikedo or Kalare, but instead smiled menacingly at Zax.

  Mikedo’s head swiveled back and forth between Zax and the sergeant while she blinked in confusion. “Wait a sec. Do you two know each other?”

  “Yes, ma’am. I had the pleasure of meeting these cadets a couple of weeks ago. I was walking to a meeting when someone crashed into me and dumped my coffee. It caused me to be thirty-seven secs late to an important meeting with my commanding officer. You can only imagine what hilarity ensued.”

  “Well, well, well—isn’t that a funny coincidence.” Mikedo turned to Zax and Kalare. “Sergeant Bailee will work with the two of you to evaluate whether he feels you’re fit to join the Marine’s expedition to the planet tomorrow.”

  She faced Bailee. “I’m absolutely confident the sergeant will be a complete professional and any ill feelings he may have based on his prior interactions with either of you will not play any role in today’s activities or his evaluation thereof.”

  “For you, ma’am, of course. I will treat these two the same way I would treat any Marine cadet.” Bailee smiled at Zax, but the grin stopped short of the man’s eyes and left Zax feeling cold. The sergeant turned to gesture at the simulation he had configured.

  “Cadets—what you have before you is a live fire exercise with three different stages. You’ll complete each of the stages as a team. The first two involve weapons you’ve already practiced with as a test of how well you’ve absorbed that instruction. The final stage involves a weapons system you’ve never seen before as a test of how well you’re able to improvise and solve problems on the fly.”

  The sergeant closed his eyes and focused on his Plug. A moment later, Zax almost toppled over as an unexpected shift in gravity increased his perceived weight. The sergeant opened his eyes. “Of course, all of this will be done under the same gravitational and atmospheric conditions you would experience on the planet. I understand you’ve already trained with similar parameters so I assume this will not pose a problem. Your test starts now.”

  The lights in the room dimmed and a green arrow flashed on the ground. Zax and Kalare glanced at each other and then ran in the arrow’s direction. As they moved, a series of arrows lit up ahead to guide them through the jungle. They ran until they reached a small clearing where two blasters leaned against a tree.

  Kalare was running ahead of Zax so she grabbed the two weapons and tossed one back to him. No sooner had the blaster landed in his hands than the jungle directly behind Kalare exploded with incoming laser fire. It came from a pitch-black, humanoid shape Zax assumed was some type of bot. Without even thinking, Zax fired off two shots over Kalare’s shoulder which hit their mark and halted the incoming fire.

  “Holy crap, Zax! What are you doing? You almost hit me and those are live rounds!”

  Before Zax could reply laser fire shot past his own shoulder from behind. He dropped to a knee and spun 180 degrees. He heard Kalare shoot and then smelled smoke. It came from his eyebrows which had been singed by the blaster shot Kalare sent millimeters in front of his face.

  “OK—I take it back. We’re even now.” Kalare giggled as she scanned the jungle in front of them with her weapon. “That bot was freaky. Notice how their laser bolts are burning whatever they hit. When the sergeant said it was a live fire exercise I assumed he was talking about our rounds, but I guess the bots are shooting live ones too! I sure hope they aren’t lethal, but I’ve got to think they would hurt at least as bad as getting shot by Jacen. Wait—there’s another green arrow. Let’s go!”

  Zax followed as Kalare led the way through the jungle at a breakneck pace. The arrows guided them away from the first clea
ring towards a hill. As they approached, a bot once again poured laser fire into the jungle. Zax and Kalare dove behind a massive tree. Zax caught his breath and peeked around to identify the threat.

  “Uh-oh. Those shots are coming at us from near the top of the hill. I don’t think we can accurately reach them from this range with our blasters.” A shot glanced off the edge of the trunk in front of his face and sent him scurrying behind the tree once again.

  “Wait—look over there.” Kalare pointed five meters away at a massive log which leaned against another tree. Propped up against it was a squad automatic weapon. “That SAW will have enough power to reach the shooter.”

  “I guess the new weapon means we’ve moved on to the second exercise.” Zax paused for a moment to think before he continued. “I will fire from here to give you cover to reach the far side of that trunk. Once you’re there, I want you to lay down some fire to let me get there too.”

  After Kalare’s assent, Zax spun around the opposite side of the tree and let loose with non-stop blaster fire. She took off on his first shot and by the time the bot reacted to her movements and reoriented its weapon, Kalare had dived behind the fallen log. She peeked over it and raised her hand to countdown from five.

  Zax knew he would have to move faster than Kalare if he was to make it to the fallen tree. The bot on the hilltop would already be pointing its laser weapon in that direction and would react much faster to his movement as a result.

  Kalare’s countdown hit zero and Zax sprinted towards the tree. Kalare didn’t shoot from behind cover as he had done. She instead popped into full view and yelled while firing like crazy. Her gambit caused enough confusion to create a lull in the fire which allowed Zax to reach the fallen tree. They fell behind the log together as a hail of incoming bolts sailed above it and exploded in the brush directly behind them.